Chicago and the development of social practice

This is an intimidating topic to take on, given how it has been the most underdeveloped section in this project as of October 26, 2014, about 5pm. This is probably due to the fact that none of us can claim to be historians, sociologists or geographers who are thoroughly familiar enough with the historical landscape of Chicago to draw explicit links to its contextual influence on social practice, and thus, the Proximity of Consciousness show. Some angles discussed on this page in order to approach this topic without our spontaneous brain combustions include: the ideologies of Jane Addams and John Dewey, the context of Chicago, and historically important social practice-related projects in Chicago.

The Ideologies of Jane Addams and John Dewey

 * "Several of the projects in A Proximity of Consciousness are grounded in the work of Chicagoans Jane Addams and John Dewey, who took social activism to new heights, focusing, in a large part, on the power of popular education and the transformative role of art."


 * - From the press release.

So, we know Addams and Dewey are super important influences on the show, but to even pretend to be thoroughly familiar with their ideas is terrifying. So let's not pretend. Let's quote and dissect what others have made of their ideologies instead! The author of the paper, Socializing Democracy: Jane Addams and John Dewey, discusses that ''"the contributions of Jane Addams and the women of the Hull House Settlement to pragmatist theory, particularly as formulated by John Dewey, are largely responsible for its emancipatory emphasis. By recovering Addams’s own pragmatist theory, a version of pragmatist feminism is developed that speaks to such contemporary feminist issues as the manner of inclusion in society of diverse persons, marginalized by gender, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation; the strengths and limitations of standpoint theory; and the need for feminist ethics to embrace the social nature of morality. The model of social democracy that informs the pragmatist shift from a detached theory of knowing to an engaged theory of understanding differentiates it from both liberal individualism and communitarianism. Dewey’s repeated attacks on the incoherence of the model of classical liberal individualism, for example, are even more persuasive when seen in the context of the model of the intersubjective constitution of the individual that Addams develops from examining the relation of personal development to social interaction among the women residents of Hull House."'' Gee, thanks Charlene Haddock Sigfried!

So Jane Addams and John Dewey were huge on pragmatist theory. This in particular is further developed in feminism that sounds very much like intersectional feminism (inclusion of people of marginalized identities). While the standpoint theory is useful for helping us understand that every individual's perspective is unique to their experience and social context, it does not divorce them from how morality is shaped by the society, not the individual. In fact, the individual and the society grow together at the same time, and it is incoherent to assume social and political change leads from just the individual, or just the society.

Does this mean... the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political is the personal is the political?

Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy, on the other hand, claims that because of the immense oppression of the communities neighboring the Hull House, "Addams’ leadership among the American pragmatists in understanding the poor and oppressed resulted in a more radical form of pragmatism than that of Dewey and James, a social philosophy imbued with a class and gender consciousness. Ultimately, Addams exemplifies and theorizes about what today is described as care ethics. Addams’ version of care ethics does not privatize caring relationships in metaphors of parent-child relationships, but assertively extends the notion to the community and society."

Wow. So was Addams more "intersectional" than Dewey? That said, the notion of caring relationships within a community is something Dewey does touch on. For sure. We're seeing the term 'care ethics' surface again in this JSTOR piece titled Pragmatists Jane Addams and John Dewey Inform the Ethic of Care: ''"Both Jane Addams and John Dewey see human beings as ultimately creative in nature and as radically connected to each other." ''Wait a second. That. That sounds like... A community. A tight-knit community. A tight-knit community of creativity. A close community. A close conscious community. A proximity of consciousness, perhaps? POLO!!!!! Okay, enough equivocating. So it's not just about a community caring about each other. It's the fact that individuals are creative creatures, and part of that creative instinct is to care for one another. The creativity of an individual isn't always necessarily pitted against the interconnectedness of a community.

Another cool thing: "In many ways, Addams took American pragmatism to a logical conclusion: social action. Pragmatists emphasize the dynamic relationship of experience and theory in the service of social advancement. Dewey, James and Mead engaged in social projects from university settings. Addams, who never had an official university appointment, although she did teach occasionally at the University of Chicago, took pragmatist theory out into society and applied it to her projects. However, in the process, she never stopped writing and thematizing her experiences, thus revising and reconsidering her theories. In this manner Addams provides one model of what it is to be a public philosopher." Can social practitioners (by way of artsy artster artists) be seen as public philosophers? Many seem to embody that by taking action to directly address and apply their beliefs. Furthermore, the organic process of feedback that improved both her writing and her project very much mirrors the organic unfolding of social practice projects.

So, what does the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy say about Dewey?

Dewey disliked how liberalism was individualistic and self-centered. "As Dewey puts it, ‘men are not isolated non-social atoms, but are men only when in intrinsic relations’ to one another, and the state in turn only represents them ‘so far as they have become organically related to one another, or are possessed of unity of purpose and interest’ " Aww, you and I are molecules! We're not atoms! We have covalent bonds! And ionic bonds! Another important thing to note about Dewey's philosophy is his perspective on knowledge. He rejected "‘spectator theory’ of knowledge, which he thought dominated western philosophy" and instead "aimed to displace this conception of knowledge with a notion of inquiry, understood as the struggle of human intelligence to solve problems. The goal of such inquiry was not to arrive at a certain picture of the nature of things, but at an inevitably provisional solution to the practical and intellectual problem that sparked inquiry." So Dewey seems to have been very much a more process-oriented person.

If we look at what has been discussed so far, concepts such as pragmatism, feminism, inclusiveness (although Ida B Wells would argue otherwise about Addams), communalism, the individual as seen in relation to one's, the inherently creative nature of mankind, the focus on the process, and the dynamic relationship between theory and experience, these are all concepts that clearly drive many project in ''Proximity. ''However, were Addams and Dewey necessarily the only two figures pioneering and propagating these important ideas in their time? Were there not other philosophers and social activists in Chicago like Ida B Wells and Margaret Borroughs? Why are they not mentioned in the show?

The Context of Chicago
One proposes to look at various historical, political, geographical, architectural and cultural factors that possibly or definitely come into play in Chicago's relationship to social practice. They are described here extremely broad terms to be further discussed, debated or downright criticized:

Economy, Geography and Demographics

 * Its early origins in the 1800s as a transportation hub and flourishing economy thanks to the opening of canals to Lake Michigan


 * History of immigrant poverty
 * Financial hub
 * Economic inequality


 * 1800s: influx of European immigrants
 * 1910-1970: The Great Migration
 * 1940s: rise of Fidel Castro, migration of Hispanic people from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba
 * 1965 and after: change in US immigration laws, influx of Asian immigrants
 * 1970s: Gentrification (?)
 * 1980s: migration of Central and South Americans

Take the rich diversity in Chicago's population and how its demographic make-up changed over time. And then take a long history and ever-present fact of Chicago as a city for rich industrialists on one hand and impoverished laborers on the other are just one of the ways. Perhaps this age-old systemic oppression of marginalized groups in the city reinforced the need to look elsewhere beyond the system, beyond bureaucracy, beyond the institution. After all, Chicago is also the historical site of lots of political revolts, in the form of riots, unionization and demonstrations. As residents looked further beyond what the city government could give them, it's not hard to see how art became entwined with politics and helped inspire the rise of social practice as we know it today, both as an art form and a political act.
 * Present: third most populous city in the US
 * Present: tenuous relationships between large universities and neighborhood communities, e.g. UIC and the Near West Side, University of Chicago and South Side Chicago

Politics
A very brief, attenuated summary of politically significant events in Chicago's history. Please update, debate, expand further and fill in the gaps!
 * 1886: The Haymarket Affair
 * Post-1900s: unionization
 * 1910s, 1920s: rise of organized crime thanks to government corruption


 * 1919: Chicago Race Riot - overcrowding and extreme segregation led to heated tensions. In summer that year, a white man was throwing stones on a segregated beach in the South Side and killed a black man. He was not arrested by a white police officer, who chose to arrest a black man instead. This led to violent riots, looting and deaths.

Again and again, throughout the history of Chicago, we see so many revolts against strongholds of power, such as the police, the city government, city planners, politicians and dominant ethnic groups. If you can't work the system, and if they won't hear you when you speak directly to them in the form of demonstrations, strikes and riots, it's no surprise to turn to grassroots activism and alternative forms of political expression, such as activist art.
 * 1960s:The Young Lords, led by Jose Cha Cha Jimenez, protested the displacement of the Latino community and the poor.
 * May 1963: riots in the South Side after a white police officer shot a fourteen year old black boy fleeing the scene of a robbery
 * 1965-1967: Chicago Freedom Movement (or Chicago Open Housing Movement)
 * Chicago8.jpg 1968: assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and huge riots that caused the burning down of portions of black neighborhoods in the South and West Sides
 * 1968 Democratic National Convention and Chicago Seven (originally the Chicago Eight), who faced criminal charges for countercultural protests in Chicago in response to the Convention and the Vietnam War
 * Present: Problematic public school system and huge strikes, protests
 * Present: Chicago as one of the largest Democratic strongholds in the United States. E.g. no Republican mayor since 1927.
 * Present: "According to data released Monday by Southern Illinois University's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, 89 percent of respondents to a recent poll of registered Illinois voters believe corruption is at least somewhat common in the state, while more than half of the respondents -- 53 percent -- believe it's "very" common." (Source.)

Architecture

 * The Great Chicago Fire: the need to "rebuild the city from scratch;" perhaps a link can be made to the DIY work ethic in many of Chicago's social activist work, community gardening movement, and social practice projects?
 * For example, the arrival of Danish immigrant and landscape designer Jens Jensen in 1886 after the Fire might reflect some of this. His creations include the four city parks that highlight the influence of his democratic ideals, and passion for social justice, gardening and conservation.
 * 1893 World Columbian Exhibition
 * Its architecture??? Jeff, talk about this, you the architecture student!

Chicago Black Renaissance
(Which Wikipedia completely ignores, by the way, in its a terrible write up on the "Culture of Chicago", tsk.)

AN OFTEN-IGNORED, UNDER-DISCUSSED CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHICAGO.
Just look at how important this movement of 1930s to mid-1950s is! Present tense, because its influence on social activism and social practice can definitely still be felt today. It was "more than a moment of high cultural production." It was a "grassroots, community-based movement from below in which major changes in social policy and cultural work were driven, literally, by ordinary citizens." Furthermore, it "demonstrates that African American women’s self-activity was the driving force of most grassroots change on the Southside." Key organizations that deserve a huge place in the discussion of the history of social practice in Chicago include: the South Side Community Art Center, South Side Writers Group, Parkway Community House, and Chicago YWCAs. The intertwining of activism, art-making, collaboration, community, and addressing urgent social issues of the time is not unlike what we see in the social practice of today. No doubt this rich history of social activism during the Chicago Black Renaissance played a large role in shaping Chicago into the environment so conducive and alive with social practice that it is today.

Other important cultural factors:

Is the improvisational, collaborative nature of so many of these Chicago-influenced cultural products something that is deeply influenced by its cultural predecessors, and does it continue to influence art today, especially social practice?
 * Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
 * Famous for public art. As such, social sculpture and social practice arose as a response/revolt against traditional public art sculpture.
 * Birthplace of house music!
 * Birthplace of modern improvisational comedy!
 * Influential site of Chicago blues, Chicago soul, jazz, Gospel music!
 * Oprah?

The Art History of Social Practice in Chicago
Another way to look at how the specific circumstances and environment of Chicago gave rise to some social practice-related projects as we know them today. Let's pick some famous and important social practice sites and events to kick off this discussion, not because they are the progenitors of all social practice, but to ground our discussion in actual examples that can help map Chicago's relationship with social practice.

South Side Community Art Center

 * "The art center was founded under the auspices of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration in 1940. It is the only surviving community art center of the 110 developed under the Federal Art Project Art Project, and it was the first founded in an African American community.  The building purchase and renovations were further made possible by years of rigorous organizing and fundraising by members of the local community.


 * The center unofficially opened its doors to the public on December 15th of 1940, offering free art lessons to the public. The center's opening exhibit in December 1940 featured local artists who would become the guiding lights of mid-century African American visual art, including Henry Avery, William Carter, Charles White, Archibald Motley, Jr., Joseph Kersey, Margaret Burroughs (then Margaret Goss), Bernard Goss, and William McBride.


 * On May 7th of 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led a dedication ceremony at the center in honor of it surpassing 13,500 people attending classes, exhibits, and showcases at the center that year. This dedication ceremony was nationally broadcast via the CBS radio station. The South Side Community Art Center was granted Chicago Landmark status on June 16th, 1994.  Today, the art center continues to educate, expose, and enrich art and expression in the spirit of its community." (Source.)

What does it say that Chicago is home to the only remaining WPA funded community art center, and its long history of showcasing the work of its community? Why does it seem left out of the visual discussion in Proximity? Is it because it has faltered over time in its influence? Nevertheless, it has had a huge influence on the way social practice in the South Side has taken shape in our present day. Another question, out of curiosity: can a show like Proximity make room to exhibit another art institution like the South side Community Art Center?

Experimental Station

 * "The Experimental Station was founded in 2002 by Connie Spreen and Dan Peterman upon a long history of socially, artistically, and environmentally significant projects that had operated quietly but successfully at its location at 6100 S. Blackstone Avenue. In the 1990s, the address, owned and managed by artist Dan Peterman, steadily developed a reputation among local, national and international cultural networks for its vitality, innovation and social relevance. A devastating fire in April 2001 halted activities. The hiatus opened up, however, the exciting opportunity to realize our vision of creating a more sustainable organization, while continuing to foster the types and quality of projects for which the building at 6100 S. Blackstone had become known. That organization is the Experimental Station". (Source)

It's curious to note that they said that significant projects that came before Experimental Station "operated quietly but successfully." What part of Chicago's social practice histories might be missing and have operated in a similar way? However, this shows how Chicago had already been a conducive environment for these socially, artistically and environmentally motivated projects for at least a decade now.

But what came before Experimental Station?


 * "The building located at 6100 South Blackstone Avenue was originally built in the 1920s as an off-street parking garage surrounded by apartment buildings and townhouses. It was later bought and operated by Walter H. Flood and Co. who renovated the interior and operated an engineering enterprise. In the early 70s, with the neighborhood suffering a period of turmoil and economic decline, the building was purchased by the Resource Center, an Illinois not-for-profit environmental organization, that later purchased the adjacent property as abandoned buildings were razed. Throughout the seventies and early eighties numerous environmental initiatives were born on the site, including a book and clothing exchange program, a community garden, a bakery, a cooperative workshop and an extensive curbside recycling program which has since expanded and moved to other locations, growing into Chicago's largest non-profit recycling operation. By the late 1980s many of the remaining initiatives had disappeared or were losing energy." (Source)

Sure, Dan Peterman is in Proximity, but does his presence in the show tap into these complicated and less well-known histories of social practice? That Experimental Station literally emerged from the ashes of various other quietly operated social projects is astounding in itself. If it is a physical and metaphorical birthplace of many social practice projects and histories in Chicago, it certainly isn't really mentioned in the physical exhibition itself.

Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

 * "The saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell began by recalling how the organization grew out of the Experimental Band, led by Mr. Abrams on the South Side of Chicago. “We wanted to have a place where we could sponsor each other in concerts of our original compositions; provide a training program for young, aspiring musicians in the community; reach out to other people and other cities; and have exchange programs,” he said.


 * Noticeably absent from Mr. Mitchell’s description, and from the language of the early planning meetings, was the word jazz. This was partly in keeping with the arm’s length the organization intended to establish between its art and the commercial realm of nightclubs, then the de facto setting for any African-American art music. Partly, too, these musicians were concerned with a breadth of style that reached beyond jazz, to encompass serious classical composition, as well as music from Africa and the East. Having inherited the new freedoms of 1960s jazz innovators like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, the artists in this movement were ready for a next step, one they could claim as their own." (Source.)

The AACM sought to create a sustainable platform for unhindered originality that could not be touched by the fickle whims of capitalism and the commercial music industry, and it remains successful till this day. Its model for collaboration, community engagement and protecting individual innovation is not only familiar in many social practice processes of today, but also echo the tenets of Dewey and Addams.

Mess Hall
Perhaps one of the most poignant and emotive appeals to Chicago's history can be captured by Mess Hall's endearing and enduring love letter to the city. Here are some excerpts worthy of further discussion! It perfectly captured a very specific cultural landscape of Chicago that provided an environment so conducive to social practice.


 * "You have millions of faces and voices. You are daring but midwestern. Homegrown and futuristic. Surprising and comfortable, with streets that curve but always with your eye on the lake."


 * "The things you’ve given away for free: your public spaces, your generous moments, your research labs and archives, your libraries and moments of rest, are all fading, few and far-between. Chicago, I love these things, and I want to see more of you through them!"


 * "Why do you give these special moments to commerce? Why must I wade through tired missives from snake oil peddlers, when I’m only craving to hear you huskily whisper “Urbs in Horto, sweetheart,” in my ear?"


 * "Chicago, I remember some of your past suitors. I was in love with them too---the nomadic Culture in Action series which sprung that ghost neighbor to me, Flood (from those people in Haha), the risky and exciting space that excised its pigeons and became Axe Street Arena, the intimidating force that was Randolph Street Gallery. The ever-changing histories of the Experimental Station and the Resource Center keep my gait strong and my head high too."

PILOT TV
For only four days in October 2004, various artists and activists from Canada & all over the United States collectively gathered to create a DIY experimental queer television program called Pilot TV-- featuring over 50 pilot episodes that ranged from professional wrestling, talk shows, lectures, etc. Free and entirely open to the public, they used Public Access Television as their main outlet to cover topics of feminism, queer identity, transgender, race, and other social issues.

"More than just a critique of post-9/11 neoliberalism, PILOT TV gave ordinary people an opportunity to create power by coming together to explore, express, and broadcast embodied experiences rooted in the interstices of activism, media, and art. . . In an effort to re-discover, reevaluate, and resuscitate expressive forms of communal agency, organizing, and living, then, PILOT TV aimed to trespass against the corporate and state domination of the airwaves, public space, and life itself by providing shelter for heterogeneous bodies to create fantastic performances of artistic revolt." --Michael Franklin

The event recorded the behind-the-scenes process and organization in their documentary called A Call and An Offering.

Culture in Action
Research into this project surfaced some interesting perspectives on the history of art in the midwest as well, as seen from this interview with the curator of Culture in Action, Mary Jane Jacob:


 * "As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, I did an internship as curator of the Michigan Artrain, working on a show from the Upper Midwest. As I met artists in local terrains, I heard about the regional prejudices they faced and how their place—outside the mainstream—labeled them in negative ways and restricted their access to showing."


 * " At Sculpture Chicago I was impressed with the real enthusiasm among that committed board for the work they’d most recently accomplished with Vito Acconci and others. However, their programmatic separation of local and national artists seemed to smack of regionalism to me."

Can we say that this show is borne out of that same urge to steer clear of unambiguous regionalism? What tips the fine line between a show asserting its local identity including artists from all backgrounds, and a show that "programmatically separates" its artists?

These pivotal projects and pioneers shaped and are shaped by the unique cultural landscape of Chicago, and provide an insight into Chicago's particular relationship with social practice that makes Proximity such an apt exhibition to have at this point in time.